More of Vermont

Leilani got Married!!!!

We decided to take a trip out to Vermont when we heard that our good friend Leilani would be getting married. It worked out well for us as we wanted to go visit my sister and friends out there soon anyways. The wedding was wonderful and despite it raining like a monsoon for the three days up until the wedding, there was a break in the rain long enough to have a beautiful reception outside under the tent where we were not bothered at all.

Weston at One Month

Weston at one month. This is a little past due, like almost three weeks, but I'll try to remember what was happening with our little guy at 4 weeks old. At four weeks old Weston has already flown accross the country, and did a great job of it. The morning that this picture was taken I woke up to him laying next to me and when I said good morning he gave me a big smile. This was the first of a lot of smiles to come. He was eating really well, and must have gained a few more pounds. He likes to do push ups when he laying on his dad's chest. He is recognizing faces more and just starting to find his voice more at this point. Every night between 6 and midnight he decides he is fussy and wants to eat every hour to sooth himself. Chelle tought us some good tricks on how to deal with that.

Beesmas and Weston at 3 weeks

Every year, Tucker and his family get together and they call it Beesmas. This is due to the fact that Shadra doesn't like the cold and would rather see her family when it is not cold, so instead of getting together for Christmas, they have Beesmas.

This year everyone came and stayed at the Rainbow house to visit Tucker and I and meet Weston.

In these pictures here Weston is 3 weeks old.

Weston's First Political Event

A week after Weston was born, mom and dad invited Tucker and I to go to the Rob Cornellius and David Wu Debate, they are running against each other for Congress. The debate was lively, and Weston slept right through it, except for the moment when he started to leak and Tucker had to take him out to change him.

Post hospital

Some more photos

Labor

I went into labor on Wed night Sept 1st 2010. After walking a total of about three hours that day I finally laid down for sleep around 11:30 pm. At 11:40 pm I had a contraction that felt different then the ones I had been having the last two days. I felt like something tore inside and then with the next wave of contraction, water came gushing out of me. I couldn't believe how much came out that first time. I shook Tucker awake and asked him to go wake Chelle up who was asleep on the couch cause I was pretty sure my water broke. Tucker tried to wake Chelle up, but she thought he was joking, so she just told him to stop kidding around. Then from the bedroom she heard me yell, "Chelle, we are not joking, and I am getting scared!" She snapped right out of it and came running in. We called mom who told me to get to the hospital cause my contractions were going to start hurting really bad really soon, so better to get there before they do. Tucker laid towels in the back seat and I laid down while Chelle let the hospital know I was coming in.

We got there around midnight on Sept 2nd 2010. After getting through triage where they confirmed that I was in labor, and said only one person could come in, but Chelle and mom talked their way in anyways, they moved me to a labor room. My nurse was Cherri for those first 7 hours between midnight and 7. My contractions were bad, I threw up the meal I had eating the night before, and was left with nothing in my gut. By 6 when they checked my dialation I was sure that I had to be close. Sadly the doctor said I was only at a 4 and a half, but I felt like at least I have progressed a bit.

They suggested that I use the jacuzzi to speed up the process, which I did for the next two hours. When I got threw I was sure I had to be close, cause the contractions had gotten a lot more intense. A new doctor was on shift, Dr. Straus, who checked me and determined that not only was I not at a 4 1/2, I was only at a 3 still, which is what I had come into the hospital at. The other Dr. was apparently a little tired when he checked me that morning, he not only over estimated my dilation, but others as well.

At that point I had been having really hard contractions for about 13 hours, and with nothing making me dialate. The Dr. sugessted that they use patosen, I was not really sure about that idea as I had really wanted to not have to use drugs. We had a chat, Tucker, mom, dad, chelle and I and decided that patosen might be a good idea as the water had broken so long ago, it was important to help my body do what it needed to to have the baby.

So we tried the patosen. It deffinitly made my contractions stronger. I threw up the little liquid I had taken in me and labored hard for another couple of hours. After that, the Dr. checked me and announced that I was still at a 3. This was super deflating to hear as I was barely maintaining sanity through each contraction. He said the only thing that we could do was to up the patosen levels, which meant that the contractions would get even more intense. I knew that my body could not take much more of that, but I new that I couldn't just sit around and hope that my body decided to dialate before my baby got sick from my water breaking.

I asked for an epidural at that point, cause I knew that I wouldn't be able to push him out if I had to try to make it through even harder contractions going on no food or sleep for over 24 hours at that point.

Once I got the epidural and the patosen was upped I was able to sleep for about three hours. When the checked me after that I had dialated to an 8. Finally! Progress! I was so stoked and for the first time realized that I would be able to have this baby, and I would get to meet him soon.

The Dr. had been trained by midwives before becoming an OB. So his skills were awesome! He explained exactly what I needed to do and how to push the baby out. His directions were just what I needed to be confident that I could push him out.

Turnes out, pushing the baby out was the most fun I had had all year! I loved knowing that what I was able to do was bringing my baby to me. Every push was super exciting and I had great cheerleaders helping me get through it. Chelle, Hai, Caitlyn, Mom, Dad, Tucker, Cherri (who was back on shift for round two) and Dr. Straus all encouraged me and got more excited with each push as the baby came down.

I was able to push him out in 40 minutes, and I felt quite accomplished for it.

Tucker annouced that it was a boy, and I couldn't have been more happy!

Tucker Weston had come to meet us!

Tucker was super excited to give him bath, but before he did, I let Weston try the nursing thing out, which he rocked at right away.

Sunday night before Weston came

Hailey took some pictures of the two of us before our family became three people outside the womb.

Pregnant Belly

here is a little before and after for you all. Tucker and I came accross this picture today while getting the other ones on. We were both blown away by the transformation of my body throughout this pregnancy. The first picture was when I was just over a month pregnant. I was able to find the same shirt, but the pants we have packed away. So here you have it. My belly in all its glory! 6 weeks to go.

Memorial Day Trip and Good Looking Husband

I just like how good looking my husband is, so I thought I would let the rest of you enjoy it too.
We went to Beverly Beach for Memorial day. We left Sunday night after church and got in just in time to set up camp. The only campsite they had available was a group campsite, but no one else was at the campsite. We got the whole campsite for 9 bucks. The next day we got up and went on a bike ride, which proved kinda hard to do with a big belly.

We just grabbed what ever food we had in the kitchen for our breakfast. It was eggs, hamburger paddies bbq sauce and bread. It turned out better than could have been expected.
I made Tucker take this one, cause people are always asking for more pictures of my belly.
We love our tent. It has kept us bone dry on the North Shore of Oahu during raining season and all up and down the Oregon and California coast. It is super easy to put up and packs up really light so we can bring it along with us super easily. Of course I got it at an REI garage sale for $50, so that makes it even more special!

Here is Tucker unloading the firewood in the rain so we could have a bon fire. It was a really fun trip. The only bummer part of the trip was that before we left we asked Mom if she had a good book we could read together. She gave us one that she said was just really funny. So I am reading it to Tucker out load as we are driving to the coast and it gets to this part where she tells about how in her past she was married and totally in love and pregnant, and just happened to be the same far along as I was, and they got hit by a drunk driver. Her husband was decapitated and she lost her baby in the accident. So here we are driving down the coast in exactly the same situation as she was in. And to top it all off, I have been overly emotional while being pregnant. So I of course start bawling as I am reading and we were both so shocked that mom would give us this book to read, and both a little traumatized by the whole experience. So we didn't read the book anymore until the next day on the drive back. It was really a funny book and mom had totally forgotten about the sad part, so we forgave her.

Kids in Congo need your help and it won't cost you a dime

Hey everyone,

As some of you may know I am working with a non profit organization called Sowers of Hope. For nine years we have ran a primary school in the DR Congo. We have helped to establish local businesses to help fund the school. Right now the school is in dire need of a new building. We are trying to raise as much money as possible to make this happen. We have to chance to win $30,000 to $100,000, which will be enough to build the new school building. This is how you can help us win:

1) Go to the following link: APX Gives Back on facebook.
2) Then click on "Go to Application" in the upper left hand corner.
3) Then click on "Click to Start nominating and voting".
4) You can then search for "Sowers of Hope" in the middle of the page.
5) Once you find "Sowers of Hope" click on "Endorse this charity".

It allows you to vote for us once a day, so vote for us EVERYDAY! The regional finalists will be announced in the middle of June and the overall finalist will be announced in the middle of August.

We are jumping in a late late in the game on this one, so we need everyone to start clicking right away.

If we make it to the regional finalist, we will be in the contest all summer. Please tell all your friends about the contest. It will only take you less than a minute of your day to vote for us. So please help support us.

Thanks,
Alicia

Update on Life

Here is Tucker trying to push down the trees with his bare hands. These trees that were in front of our house were so dead and the black berry bushes were taking over, so we decided it was best to just pull them out. Luckly Nathan and Caitlin agreed and came and helped us pull them out.
Caitlin thinks Nate's tractor is sexy!
We went to visit Utah and helped Tucker's sister and brother in law pull out a tree. Little Troy sat up in a tree watching wishing he were big enough to join in the fun. Here he is with Grampa Beesley.
Here is Tucker's Amish beard. He wore a beard on a vacation in Hawaii but shaved the mustache so that water would stop sneaking in his snorkel. Hawaii was a Fun vacation!!


Tucker is playing Volley ball tonight and as much as I love sports, volley ball is not my favorite, especially when I have my pregnancy weight on me. Jumping up to spike a ball just doesn't have the same appeal right now. I am happy that he can go and play and we really do get to spend a lot of time together now that he is not traveling as much. So it is fun for him to be able to get out and make some new friends.

I haven't update this for a while, cause although I am married to a photographer, we really haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately. But I hope you enjoy this one.